It begins with a book.
One book is given to both a songwriter and a visual artist. They write a song and create a work of art inspired by the book they read fulfilling their TRIO. Each TRIO will be installed as part of an exhibit debuting at the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance in September of 2017 and traveling to museums, galleries, and literary events throughout the following year.
Among the books chosen for the 2018 TRIO Exhibit are The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash, Gradle Bird by J.C. Sasser, Heating & Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly, A Kind of Freedom by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton, The Hidden Light of Northern Fires by Daren Wang, and The Whole Way Home by Sarah Creech, and more.
TRIO songwriters include award-winning musicians and songwriters Pam Tillis, Suzy Bogguss, Kim Richey, Peter McDade, Sarah Aili, Jill Benfield, Radney Foster, Eddie Heinzelman, Tommy Lewis, Eric Erdman, Sunny Sweeney, Joanna Janet, and Isaac Fountain.
Visual artist TRIO contributors cover a wide variety of media and genre and include Abbie Smith, Jennifer NyBlom, Robert Oren Eades, Cyndi Hoelzle, Katrina Perdue, Rachel Campbell, Heather Gallaher, Lucy Hunnicutt, Lia Frederick, Karen Schwettman, Glenn A. Bruce, and Stephen Brook.
TRIO’s creator is Shari Smith, whom editor Joe Formichella called “the mad Dr. Frankenstein” behind the anthology and cd, The Shoe Burnin’, Stories of Southern Soul, and the script writer and mother hen of the stage production, The Shoe Burnin’ Show, a combination of literature and music that changes with every performance, defying description and delighting audiences.
Book the TRIO Exhibit here.
